NORRISTOWN >> The homeless man who is accused of fatally stabbing another man during a fight on High Street in Pottstown will face a jury in April when his trial gets under way.

Jury selection will begin April 9 for the murder trial of Steven Holmes, 54, who is charged with first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of a crime in connection with the 10:30 p.m. July 30, 2017, fatal stabbing of Diamonde “Clutch” Stone, 35, of Pottstown.

Montgomery County Judge Steven C. Tolliver will preside over the trial that is expected to last several days. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Daniels is prosecuting the case and Holmes is represented by defense lawyer Carrie Allman, according to court records.

If convicted of first-degree murder, an intentional killing, Holmes would face life imprisonment. A conviction of third-degree murder carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.

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Holmes, who remains in the county jail without bail pending trial, previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.

An investigation began about 10:30 p.m. July 30, when Pottstown police responded to the 300 block of High Street for a report of a fight and discovered Stone, bleeding heavily from an apparent stab wound to the chest, lying on the sidewalk, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed by county Detective Todd Richard and Pottstown Detective Thomas Leahan.

Stone was provided immediate medical care but was later pronounced dead at Pottstown Memorial Hospital.

An autopsy determined that Stone died as a result of a stab wound to the chest with injuries to the heart, according to the criminal complaint.

Detectives interviewed witnesses, including a neighbor whose apartment overlooked the crime scene. That witness told police that he heard screaming coming from outside and when he looked, he observed four people including, “a black male who was kneeling on top of and beating a white male who was lying face up on the ground,” according to court documents.

The witness told detectives that at one point the white male, later identified as Holmes, made a movement where his hand went “straight up to the black male, and right after that, the black male got up, holding his chest,” according to the criminal complaint.

“According to (the witness) when the white male stood up he had something shiny in his hand,” Richard and Leahan wrote in the arrest affidavit.

The black male, later identified as Stone, was bleeding heavily and walked across the street, held onto a wall and then collapsed, the witness said, according to court papers. The two other individuals, a man and a woman observed by the witness, had been trying to separate Holmes and Stone during the altercation, according to court papers.

A second witness told detectives that she had invited Holmes and his girlfriend into her East High Street home to stay overnight on the night of July 29. The witness recalled hearing a disturbance outside on July 30 and that a short time later Holmes arrived at her home with blood on his arm. Holmes allegedly stated that he had gotten into an argument about $20 with “Clutch” and had stabbed “Clutch” in the arm, according to witness accounts contained in the criminal complaint.

After learning that Stone had died, the witness told Holmes to talk to the police, according to the affidavit of probable cause, but Holmes left the woman’s residence with his girlfriend.

Detectives testified at a preliminary hearing in September that Holmes admitted to the crime on Aug. 22 after he was apprehended in Philadelphia where he had fled after the stabbing.

Holmes allegedly said Stone had struck him first and that the fight they were having was about crystal meth, an illegal narcotic, according to previous testimony.

Holmes also allegedly told detectives that Stone had been saying cruel things about his girlfriend and that a second male was also striking him during his altercation with Stone, according to previous testimony.